SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A 90-year-old South Korean woman died three days after being told that a son she had not seen for 50 years was alive in North Korea and might come to see her, Red Cross officials said Thursday.

Hwang Bong-soon was overjoyed when officials told her on July 16 that her 68-year-old son, who was living in the North, might be allowed to go to Seoul for a family reunion. Officials proceeded to set up the meeting, only to find that Hwang had died in the meantime.

The mother and son, Moon Byong Chil, were to meet during four days of temporary family reunions in Seoul next week. Similar reunions will take place simultaneously in Pyongyang, the North's capital.

The reunions, the first since 1985, are a key part of an accord reached at a June summit of leaders of the two Koreas. The accord requires the sides to exchange 100 people each for the reunions.

Red Cross officials learned of Hwang's death on Wednesday, when they called her home in eastern South Korea to prepare for the reunion.

South Korean officials informed North Korea of Hwang's death in a routine border contact Thursday.

It was unclear whether her son would visit Seoul as scheduled. He has two brothers and two sisters living in South Korea. The family was separated at the start of the Korean War in 1950, local media reported.

On Wednesday, an aging South Korean man collapsed after being told his mother in North Korea, initially thought to be alive and 109 years old, was dead. Chang Yi-yoon, 72, is expected to be reunited with a nephew, instead.

Meanwhile, the two Koreas agreed to reopen liaison offices next Monday in the jointly-controlled border village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone, the Ministry of Unification said. The reopening had been agreed at inter-Korea ministerial talks last month.

The offices, which serve as a permanent channel of government dialogue, were shut down in 1996 after four years because of political tension.